Trans-Continental

Gameplay mechanics

TL;DR
* connect one side of the map to the other, unlocking towns and industries one at a time, whilst maximising own net worth

Origin and Destination
* companies are given an origin region
    * for rectangular maps, this is the one side of the map, along the long axis
    * for square maps this one side of the map, chosen randomly
    *  could (optionally) be somewhere in the middle (not sure why this is better though)
* companies are given a destination, this is the opposite side of the map

Town placement
* most towns (and all cities) are closer to the origin side of the map
* the destination side has only a small number of villages and smaller towns
* GS constructs towns in response to goal completion

Industry Placement
* GS controls all/most industry placement
* at game start,
    *  most primaries are at origin
    * all secondaries are at origin
* randomly during gameplay, and on completion of goals GS builds new industries
    * primaries all tend to be placed towards destination side of map, and probably don't care whether there is transport service in the town
    * secondaries are distributed more evenly, but favour towns that have transport service
* GS ensures that tertiaries (black holes) are evenly distributed in towns

Land Grants / Rewards
* there is some kind of 'land grant' or other reward mechanism
    * this might be based on town rating (connecting a town increases rating in neighbouring towns?)
    * this might be cash rewards
    * this might be using existing subsidy mechanic
    * this might be using exclusive transport rights
    * this might be via favourable industry placement

Personnel
* player can choose a chief engineer at game start
    * this will modify building costs and town ratings (anything else we can influence?)
* player can choose to replace the engineer every 5 years

Capitalism / Corruption
* player gets a personal net worth (via story book)
* some mechanic(s) allows player to transfer company funds to personal net worth
    * legitimately via owning stock, where the value comes from company value
    * legitimately via 'dividends'
    * illegitimately via stealing money
* player can be 'fired' by GS bankrupting the company, or using deity funds to take it over

Micro-challenges
* similar to Busy Bee

Anti-trust / taxman
* GS has triggers for removing excess company profit
    * something like public sentiment, which is improved by completing goals
* player can also 'bribe politicians' but may get caught (map-wide version of bribing towns)


Potential implementations

* use existing subsidy mechanic to trigger and detect town connection?
* divide map into bands from origin to destination, and trigger subsidies/connection goals sequentially, from one band to next, starting at origin
* story book for net wealth etc?
* modal prompts for choices? (personnel etc)